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Mountain News: A-Basin getting busier

DILLON, Colo. - Founded in 1946, one of Colorado's earliest ski areas, Arapahoe Basin constituted little more than chump change in the Colorado ski industry by the 1990s. But what a difference just 10 years can make.

DILLON, Colo. - Founded in 1946, one of Colorado's earliest ski areas, Arapahoe Basin constituted little more than chump change in the Colorado ski industry by the 1990s.

But what a difference just 10 years can make. The Summit Daily News reports that for the second consecutive winter, A-Basin surpassed 400,000 skier days, this year hitting 409,000. Last year there were 431,000.

Those numbers say nothing about income for the ski area operator, as many customers use low-priced season passes. But there were likely more customers than were recorded at three of the Aspen Skiing Co.'s four ski areas and a great many other ski areas in the West.

By comparison, A-Basin a decade ago was notching 200,000 to 300,000 skier days a winter, but just 150,000 in the perilously dry winter of 2001-2002.

How did A-Basin get this traction? The story starts in the mid-1990s, when Vail Associates, then with two ski areas, purchased Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. Competitors cried foul, arguing that the purchases tripped the federal anti-trust regulations. In time, the U.S. government agreed, and ordered the enlarged company, which called itself Vail Resorts, to sell one of its ski areas.

In a deal that many critics believed barely survived the arm's-length ruling, Vail sold A-Basin, the smallest of the operations, to a Canadian firm, Dundee Realty, which was based at Beaver Creek, then a short distance from Vail corporate headquarters.

But if independently owned, A-Basin and Vail Resorts work co-operatively. A-Basin is included in the Vail Resorts low-priced deals. Sources also say A-Basin has contracted with Vail for some basic operational services.

The new owners have invested significantly into A-Basin. At the time of the purchase, the ski area barely nudged 200,000 skier days per year. One of just three ski areas in Colorado without snowmaking, sometimes it often did not open until December, sometimes even January.

With this snowmaking, A-Basin opens reliably in October, often the first ski area in the United States. Two winters ago it opened a major new backside bowl called Montezuma and this past winter it unveiled a nice sit-down restaurant at mid-mountain, which offers fancy evening meals. It also has new parking lots to accommodate the larger crowds.

Dundee also picked up a ski area in California called Bear Valley. Company officials tell the Summit Daily that resort suffered from the housing implosion in California, as several of its major markets in California's Central Valley lead the nation in real estate foreclosures.

Funicular will take skiers to hotel

PARK CITY, Utah - A funicular has been installed in a new hotel being completed at the Deer Valley Resort. It is the only funicular at a ski area in North America.

A funicular has rails, like for a train, but is commonly used on steep inclines. A cable pulls the cars up the incline or lowers them. One famous funicular in the United States is at Colorado's Royal Gorge.

The funicular at Deer Valley will whisk passengers from a ski area parking lot 500 feet up to a ridge, where the soon-to-be-completed St. Regis Hotel is located.

Imprisoned leg prevents death

JACKSON, Wyo. - Most people think of avalanches as a phenomenon of winter. But as Mark Wilcox attested in a recent report of a climbing trip, they can also pose a peril to climbers during summer.

Wilcox, writing in the Jackson Hole News & Guide , tells of climbing up the chute on Teewinot Mountain, the sixth highest peak in the Teton Range. One climber was swept down the chute in an avalanche. The slide was small enough that, by frantically digging in with his ice ax, he was able to avoid being swept over a small cliff.

But the troubles weren't over. Just as it will in winter, the moving snow, once it stopped, set up like plaster around his leg. "He was stuck, nearly hypothermic and, above all, scared," Wilcox wrote in a column called "Excursion."

Then, a larger and more violent avalanche churned down the chute. The victim's companions fearfully shouted a warning, and the victim furiously swung his ice ax in an attempt to dislodge the snow that encased his leg. It was just too much.

His horrified companions watched as the wall of snow pounded his back and then covered him entirely.

This time, luck was with him. His imprisoned leg served as an anchor, preventing the second avalanche from sweeping him over the cliff. The snow pummeled but did not seriously injure him.

Reaching the bottom of their climb that day, leaving snow behind, the victim kissed the ground. "I know someone was looking out for us on that mountain," writes Wilcox.

Vail to cut bus routes, raise fares

EAGLE VALLEY, Colo. - Faced with slumping revenues, directors of the agency that operates buses between Vail and outlying communities plan to cut service by 30 per cent and increase fares 40 per cent. Service cuts will affect routes and times that deliver the fewest riders, including those after midnight, reports the Vail Daily . But one letter-writer to the newspapers wonders whether that is penny wise but pound foolish, as it well may result in more people driving home from the bars, unable to take a bus. The agency, ECO Transit, operates buses 45 miles down the Eagle Valley and also laterally to Leadville, which is 40 miles away.

Firebreaks opposed

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - With lodgepole pine trees in the area steadily turning more red and then grey, evidence of death by bark beetles, Breckenridge is now contemplating its next step.

The town council in June adopted a law that gives homeowners two years to remove trees within 30 feet of their homes to create firebreaks. Those who refuse can be billed $1,200 or more by the town.

But opponents have collected enough signatures to put the law before a community vote in November, unless the council rescinds the law. The council will consider its options on July 28.

The story in Breckenridge illustrates the dilemmas of local governments across the West as they attempt to deal with the belated recognition that they live in fire-dependent ecosystems.

In Breckenridge, however, many people see the issue of private vs. community rights.

The Los Angeles Times quotes one homeowner, Ed Nolan, 65, who accuses the Breckenridge government of trampling on property rights by forcing him to cut down 37 trees. "It's a sacred thing," he says of property rights.

But another homeowner believes that government has responsibility to the community. John Quigley, 59, told the same newspaper that he had hired crews to thin trees on his property, in part because it might save the life of a firefighter.

The town had originally required only that trees infected by bark beetles be cut down. Fire officials, however, asked for greater islands. If the threat of fire remains, the chances of a major conflagration will decline, they say.

Such protective measures have become more common in recent years. In 2002, nearby Eagle County adopted a law mandating 30 to 100 feet of defensible space around new buildings and those with major remodels. This does not affect individual towns in the county, such as Vail.

Grand Lake, a community located at the west entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, also requires defensible space around homes. Mike Long, the fire chief, told Planning Magazine last winter that homeowners who refuse to comply have been told that their homes will be the last to receive efforts of firefighters.

Long also told the magazine that he sees the bark beetle epidemic having good, in that the dead trees serve to remind people of the potential for fire that existed all along. Forests of green trees, if perhaps not as easily ignited as those with red needles, can burn even more hotly.

Thomas Veblen, a geography professor at the University of Colorado, tells Forest Magazine that his study of forests over the last 500 years shows that weather and climate are much more important determinants of fire than is fuel conditions. "Weather conditions are the overriding factor in terms of fire risk and fire hazard," he says.

Fires were more scarce during the 20 th century, but because of climatic reasons, not because of fire suppression, he contends.

Connecting these and other dots, the Summit Daily News notes the "birth of a new reality in Summit County and much of the intermountain West: It's no longer business as usual, and creation of defensible space is just part of the equation we need to apply to protect our homes and property."

$43 million sale a bargain

ASPEN, Colo. - Some people still have lots of money, but they're not willing to pay the real estate prices of two years ago.

That's the lesson in Aspen, where a mansion has been sold for $43 million. The Aspen Times reports that the house had been appraised at $50 million, given values of 2007. Although the buyer was not identified, the seller was Daryl N. Snadron, a Dallas-area owner of several businesses. He also has two other houses in Aspen listed for sale, one for $19 million and another for $12 million.

Car door no barrier to bear

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. -- After increasing problems with bears for several years, Crested Butte last year passed an ordinance requiring efforts to make it difficult for bears to get into garbage containers.

So far, so good. But now the bears have left the alleys behind and started crawling into cars and windows. One bear even recently strolled into the lobby of the local cop shop.

The Crested Butte News reports that one bear got in a car, where it was quite the oaf before setting off a car alarm. This was at 2 a.m., and when the car owner went to investigate, he encountered the bear, much to the surprise of both.

Also surprising, says the newspaper, was circumstantial evidence that the bear had opened the car's door, which was believed to have been shut.

Bill Heicher, a retired wildlife biologist from Eagle, Colo., says it's not particularly surprising that a bear figured out how to get into a car. "You have to remember that a bear has a lot of time," he says. "A bear is basically driven by two things: food and mating. If it has a good idea something has food in it, it will spend a lot of time trying to get the food."

Bears will spend hours raking serviceberry bushes in late summer, combing the branches for relatively small amounts of food, he points out.

As for the challenge of a car door, he indicates that it's not beyond the means of a bear. Because of that reason, bear-proof refuse containers in national parks, for example, have latches that bears, because of the shape of their paws, would find almost impossible to open. For humans, however, it's relatively easy.

Most car doors, in contrast, aren't all that difficult. "Animals are patient by nature," says Heicher. "They have to be. They don't get easily frustrated and leave."

Colorado's backcountry this year seems to have plenty of food for bears, even if the berry crop has not yet ripened. But bears accustomed to human food don't easily go back to grubbing for insects. That, according to Chris Martin, a state wildlife manager, is the case in the Crested Butte area. He expects some bears will likely be killed this summer, because they have become unafraid of people.

That's also the story in the Eagle Valley, where a 125-pound female bear was killed because wildlife officers considered it a human safety risk. The Vail Daily reports that one bear broke through a screen door and into a kitchen where a person was cooking. As well, bears have been trying to pry open windows. After being shooed away, the bears returned again and again.

Edgy energy systems mainstream

EAGLE, Colo. - Slowly, but now at a more brisk pace, our energy infrastructure is being transformed. While burning of coal and natural gas continue to deliver most of our heat and electricity, the exceptions continue to multiply in ski towns and mountain valleys.

In Eagle, 30 miles from Vail, an architect working on a commercial project plans to seek LEED gold, the third highest of the four standards in the green-building system. Kyle Webb, the architect, tells the Vail Daily that solar hot-water heaters and other green building techniques have "really become acceptable and moved to the forefront of people's thinking."

The change is also evident in Vail, where Webb's seven-employee office is located within a time-share complex called Vail Spa. The complex is being retrofitted with solar thermal panels to deliver the hot water for the swimming pools and hot tubs. Photovoltaic panels will also be erected on the building, and Webb hopes they will deliver the amount of electricity equal to what is used by his architectural firm.

Breck voters may legalize pot

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Advocates of a measure to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana believe they have enough signatures to put a proposal to that effect before Breckenridge voters in November. Town officials have until July 27 to rule on the validity of the signatures.

In 2006, Colorado voters rejected a similar measure, although 72 per cent of Breckenridge voters supported it. This new proposal would decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and associated paraphernalia. Current punishment for possession is $100 plus court costs.

Sean McAllister, an attorney and chairman of Sensible Breckenridge, the advocacy group, said it's not sensible to make it a crime to use a substance that is less intoxicating, less addictive, and less dangerous than alcohol.

Banff's beauty no bar to sexual assault

BANFF, Alberta  - Another woman in Banff has been the victim of what the Rocky Mountain Outlook describes as a vicious sexual attack amid the resort town's stupendously beautiful setting.

The woman, who is in her mid-20s, was walking alone at 2:30 a.m. when she was attacked. The woman managed to poke her fingers in the eyes of the attacker and scratched his face. A 38-year-old suspect was arrested the next day.

The newspaper recounts several rapes and other sexual assaults during the last several years, but also spoke with Barbara Nyman, the director of community programs at the Banff YWCA. She urged that the attacks be viewed within a broader context. "In terms of sexual violence, the reality is that most instances by far occur between two people who know each other, and it often occurs indoors," she said.

Yellowstone traffic up sharply

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. - Despite the recession, Yellowstone National Park set a record during the first six months of year, with a 9.3 per cent increase compared to last year.